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^ What nonsense tell me how much deposit do you guys take for renting your house in the USA ? In Bangalore we pay 10 months rent in advance , in Mumbai it is about 3-6 months same is the case in Chennai. In USA the max advance I ever paid was 2 months rent and you get your rent back if there are no damages , here forfeiting one month rent is a norm.

The rentals for a 2bhk unit in a good complex in Bangalore are north of 20k INR per month figures are similar for Chennai , South Bombay is out of reach and navi mumbai the figures are similar for a complex with good amenities . These properties were launched at around 30 or at most 40 lakh per apartment .

The developers pay only 2-3% interest in case of default on their part but the consumer pays 16-18% interest for his default. The committee said in its report: "The interest rate payable by the promoters as well as by allottees shall be same in eventuality of any default by either of them." The select committee not only reinforced the penalty provisions of up to three years' imprisonment proposed by the government but also introduced imprisonment clause for a realtor failing to abide by the ord ..

So what does the Bill have to offer? The real estate market in India is an excellent example of information asymmetry where one side has much more information than the other. In this case, the real estate promoters and the real estate agents have much more information than the home-buyers. Even getting something as basic as the going price of an apartment in a given area is very difficult.

These consumers were unanimous in their submission that they have no means to know about the real status of the project for example whether all the approvals have been obtained, who is holding the title of the land, what is the financing pattern of the project and what has been the past record of the builder etc.? As a result, they invested their money without having any information about the project. In many cases, they were not given what was promised to them and in almost all cases the project was delayed.

The Bill seeks to tackle this information asymmetry and the fact that the real estate sector does not have any single regulator regulating it. The Bill talks about setting up of a real estate regulator (Real Estate Regulatory Authority to be very precise) in every state and union territory. A real estate promoter needs to register a project with the real estate regulator before he starts selling or advertising it.

Projects with the area of land proposed to be developed exceeding five hundred square metres or where more than eight apartments are to be developed, need to be registered with the real estate regulator of the state they are based in.

The application to the regulator needs to be accompanied with details like the real estate projects already launched by the real estate promoter in the past five years. It also needs to be mentioned whether these projects have been completed or are still under development. If the projects have been delayed, the reasons for the delay need to be mentioned.

Over and above this an authenticated copy of the approvals and commencement certificate from the competent authority also needs to be submitted. Other important details like land title, the layout plan for the proposed project, the location details of the project, also need to be submitted to the regulator.

After an approval is granted by the real estate regulator, the real estate promoter will have to upload all these details on to the website of the real estate regulator. Any advertisement of the project should have the precise link to the project details as well.

At the time of booking and issuing an allotment letter to the buyer, the promoter needs to make available to the buyer, the time schedule of completion of the project, including the provisions for civic infrastructure like water, sanitation and electricity.

Many real estate companies over the years have sold homes without the basic amenities in place. In some cases, housing societies have even lacked a water connection and have needed to get water delivered through water tankers almost on a daily basis for years. The Real Estate Bill hopes to correct this. It also hopes to correct the information asymmetry that prevails in the sector up until now.

The Bill also allows any real estate buyer to file a complaint against the real estate promoter or real estate agent with the real estate regulator in case any violation of the provisions of the Bill as and when it becomes an Act.

A major problem with the sector has been a delay in the delivery of homes. One of the major reasons this happens is because real estate companies announce a new project, raise money and then use that money either to complete an earlier project or pay off debt.

This has led to a situation where many projects have been delayed endlessly given that the trick of starting a new project and raising money doesn’t seem to be working anymore. The Bill seeks to correct this situation. The real estate promoter needs to maintain 70% or “such higher percent, as notified by the appropriate government” of the amount raised from the buyers of homes, in a separate bank account.

This money can be only used for the cost of construction and can be withdrawn by the real estate promoter in proportion to the percentage of completion of the project. This is one of the major clauses in the Bill and if implemented correctly can bring huge relief for the buyers. Further, up until now the buyer while buying a home had no clue about what exactly was the area that he was paying for. The Bill defines the term carpet area exactly as –

….“carpet area” means the net usable floor area of an apartment, excluding the area covered by the external walls, areas under services shafts, exclusive balcony or verandah area and exclusive open terrace area, but includes the area covered by the internal partition walls of the apartment…

Again, if implemented well this clause can bring huge relief to home buyers.

Among others, AW Rabi Bernard of the AIADMK and Naresh Agarwal of the Samajwadi Party dissented to the report submitted by the Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha to which the Bill had been referred to in May earlier this year.

Agarwal in his dissent note said that-

Central government cannot enact any law on the subjects relating to the States and if it does so, it would be treated as interference in the jurisdiction of the states.

Bernard makes a similar point in his dissent note when he says that the central government should have sent the Real Estate Bill as a model bill to the states which could have then enacted their own bills to regulate the real estate sector. Bernard also said that the Bill casts undue responsibilities on the state government. If cooperative federalism is the way forward, then this clearly is not a bad idea.

The broader point which dissent notes of both Bernard and Agarwal make is that real estate is a sector which needs to be regulated by the state government. In fact, the Bill envisages the same thing. It calls for a real estate regulator (the Real Estate Regulatory Authority to be very precise) to be set up in every state and union territory. And ultimately the success of the Bill as and when it becomes an Act depends on how seriously the respective state governments implement it.

Further, the Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha met the real estate promoters during the course of deliberating over the Bill. In their submission to the Select Committee the real estate promoters were critical on “the delays caused in obtaining the various approvals before starting any real estate project”. Some of the real estate promoters pointed out that it took years to obtain necessary approvals. This ultimately delayed the project and added to its cost as well.

The promoters also told the Select Committee that they should not be held responsible for delays in handing over homes on account of inaction or delayed action of the state governments.

While I have no soft corner for real estate promoters but this is indeed a genuine problem that needs to be sorted if home-buyers need to receive homes they have bought on time. As a recent news-report in the Mint pointed out-

Developers need about 54 to 60 approvals before starting to build, a process that can stretch on for years. They need permissions ranging from an “Ancient Monument” approval to ensure that no monuments of historical significance are near the proposed project, to clearance from the Tree Authority, which must ascertain how many trees, if any, will be cut as a result of construction.

The Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha in its report talks about single window clearance from the state government to facilitate development of the real estate sector. And how will this be achieved? Section 32(b) of the Bill talks about the real estate regulator in order to facilitate the growth and promotion of a healthy, transparent, efficient and competitive real estate sector, should be making recommendations to the appropriate state government on creation of a single window system ensuring time bound project approvals and clearances for timely completion of real estate projects.

I guess there is nothing beyond this the Real Estate Bill can really do. So it ultimately boils down to the state governments whether they are in the mood to give a single window clearance for real estate projects.

The real estate Bill, which had cleared all hurdles including parliamentary committee scrutiny and Cabinet approval, won't be passed in the ongoing winter session of Parliament, delaying one of the government's key reform initiatives.

Facing formidable opposition in the Rajya Sabha and persistent disruptions, the government has decided against moving the amended Real Estate (Development and Regulation) Bill in the current session and will seek to get it through parliament next year, said people aware of the development. The government wants to use the remaining two days of the session to push through other crucial legislations that are not controversial.

The real estate Bill is likely to be challenged by the Opposition, even though the government has sought to incorporate its suggestions.

Suraj wrote:In India, the loan risk is entirely in the hands of the bank issuing the loan, and therefore you have the 9-10% rates. Even the US would have much higher rates without the backstop and guarantee provided by GSE.

Not entirely true. You do have the NHB in India. But yes, the market is not as deep as the "Agency" securities in the US. But notice, that this entire US structure was controversial to say the least even before he 2008 meltdown and people were warning (including my B. School prof who was pretty vocal about it) the status of the "Not Sovereign " status of the the agencies, and the issue of picking up the credit risk of non sovereigns and the attendant consequences of the "agency mismatch" problem. All that was prescient and was shown up starkly in the 2008 crisis.

In addition the US RE market has huge homogeneity (atleast within areas), have far fewer "issues" (in terms of just legality of title and asset , and ownership thereof) , is very organised and hence amenable to securitisation.

In India, there are very few assets like that .Though you do and can securitise the lending portfolio of Housing Finance institutions .

are these guidance value per sq ft? that would be way too much.In the above example, Rs. 1,15,200 per square foot for 10th main Jayanagar 1st block? are they kidding?that means a 1200 sq ft plot/home would be Rs. 13.824 crores !!!! bejesus!~

My tenant from a reputed tata company insisted on paying one months deposit as security, when vacating he slyly kept changing the dates of his departure to prevent us from inspecting the premises, using one excuse or another. Finally, he informed us that he was leaving on the very day that he left and departed leaving the house in shambles.

We did not have any hold after that. Left with a lakh and a half to two lakhs worth damage to walls, doors and kitchen fittings. The expensive kitchen was my pride, bigger than most living rooms in normal flats, I had got it done professionally.

The SOB tenant was a well educated very senior engineer with the tatas.

Take pictures of walls and rooms before move in and have it acknowledged and signed, along with inventory of fixtures and lights and such stuff, mention all this in a proper legal contract along with at least one inspection at notice period and another inspection at key hand over.

contract should be such that - any issues found at first inspection should be agreed to be fixed within a month or tenant will be evicted. repairs will be fixed by owner then and subtracted from advance and remaining balance will be settled after that.

only such massan type rental agreement and enforcement stuff will work. but you also need some muscle power to enforce this.

i have also been badly burned because i was not paying attention and basically let it go because i had other headaches. i went to police once and they basically asked for 20,000 for an eviction and the tenant owed me only 10,000.

Some parts of phase 1 look TFTA with Wipro, Velankani tech park, 3M, HP and HCL. Except these, the area looked like village(r)s caught in development head lights. Islands of some TFTA stuff surrounded by typical desi village-ness - abattoirs, fishmongers with fish not on ice, food rotting on pavements on a hot and humid day waiting for cows to come and eat and no pot holed roads - only holes.

Reminded me of Hadapsar and NIBM side development in Pune.

e-city seems to be witnessing frenetic construction activity and should look very different in 5-10 years. The extension of the Metro to e-city (eventually, one day, some day) will be a boon.

I inspected 5 flats in various projects - Godrej e-city, Shriram and a few local less well known players. I had to walk through slush to to get to some of them but eventually I suppose this will be fixed.

Godrey e-city was quite TFTA except that it borders a big open sewer so the deal is - buy a flat and enjjai the blended smell of yesterday's dinner of all your brothers and sisters in a 5 km radius with morning Coorg coffee. Completely non discriminatory - No App/bot/algorithm can help select your smell sources. Quite irresistible and democratic, I say.

Forget MUTU standards - maybe, lets first aspire for and implement desi standards - exemplars of which exists in fauji cantonments. That itself would be a good start. Nobody can say - it can't be done because the fauj has already done it - for ages. Upgrade all civil hygiene, infra, cleanliness and civility standards to fauji levels.

All are relying on bore water and the Godrej chap told me even after Cauvery water is made available, expect limited supplies (he said about once a week). Has the corporation or gram panchayats done any studies about ground water level usage sustainability or is it the the usual ram bharose aage dekha jaygea model? Are we using ISRO's BHUVAN-BHUJAL in town planning?

Indian RE seems to be quite over priced (based on gross rental yields compared to other markets). I found most interesting the fact that, the bribe amount for registration @ Rs 16k per flat is an unit priced, transparent, itemised, commoditised, publicised without guilt, shame or fear figure.

The innovation of the monopolised government services in monetising their public service and duty of care is diabolically indi-genious. If that does not take the samosa, then the propensity of the public, across the country to be willingly deprived of their rights and GUBO to buggery by public service thuggery by all political dispensations is nothing short of extra-ordinary.

rahulm wrote:All are relying on bore water and the Godrej chap told me even after Cauvery water is made available, expect limited supplies (he said about once a week). Has the corporation or gram panchayats done any studies about ground water level usage sustainability or is it the the usual ram bharose aage dekha jaygea model? Are we using ISRO's BHUVAN-BHUJAL in town planning?

Rest assured. None. The government agencies and the realtors have no plans to do any study of the water availability when they approve/build large housing apartments. I know an NGO who is doing a kind of mapping of areas and the water tables etc. They plan to release it to the general public, so that the people can at least know what is the chances of getting a steady supply of water (from bore wells etc.). There are some areas in Bangalore where even deep borewells have got dried up. Getting water through tankers is the only way forward.

the rest of karnataka does not care for Blr's civic problems, they have own issues and priorities. blr's share of MLAs is not much vs rest of state. so generally Govts can get away by winning in other parts of the state and use blr as the cash cow.

if blr were a union territory like delhi things would be much better, but thats not possible.

^ indeed. one day were were having a discussion on local civic matters here, and hearing all this, our friend from gorakhpur UP chimed in that "things are so different and constructive here, atleast people take an interest in these matters, and sometimes the govt does too, all talk is of growth and doing things better..in my place nobody talks of these things at all"

The much-awaited Real Estate Act comes into force on Monday with a promise of protecting the right of consumers and ushering in transparency but only 13 states and union territories (UTs) have so far notified rules.

The government has described the implementation of the consumer-centric Act as the beginning of an era where the consumer is king.

Real estate players have also welcomed the implementation of the Act, saying it will bring a paradigm change in the way the Indian real estate sector functions.

The government has brought in the legislation to protect home buyers and encourage genuine private players.

The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2016 was passed by Parliament in March last year and all the 92 sections of the Act comes into effect from May 1.

"The Real Estate Act coming into force after a nine-year wait and marks the beginning of a new era," Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said.

The Minister said the law will make "buyer the king", while developers will also benefit from the increased buyers' confidence in the regulated environment.

"The Act ushers in the much-desired accountability, transparency and efficiency in the sector, defining the rights and obligations of both the buyers and developers," Naidu said.

The developers will now have to get the ongoing projects that have not received completion certificate and the new projects registered with regulatory authorities within 3 months from tomorrow.

Under the rules, it is mandatory for the states and UTs to set up the authority.

However, only 13 states and UTs have so far notified the rules. The states that have notified the rules are Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.

The Housing Ministry had last year notified the rules for five Union Territories--Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, and Lakshadweep, while the Urban Development Ministry came out with such rules for the National Capital Region of Delhi.

Rera makes it mandatory for the promoters to deposit 70 per cent of the unused fund collected for a project in a separate bank account. Such funds can only be used for the purposes of construction and land cost

Required to pay compensation

Developers are required to refund or pay compensation to the allottees with an interest rate of State Bank of India’s highest marginal cost of lending rate plus two per cent, within 45 days of it becoming due. Interest rates are expected to range anywhere around 11-12 per cent

Compulsory registration of projects

The Act provides for mandatory registration of all projects with the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (Rera) in each state. Real estate agents who intend to sell any plot, apartment or building should also register themselves with this authority. Every project, measuring more than 500 square metres or more than eight apartments, will have to be registered with Rera

Punishment for delay

Under the clauses of the Act, in case of delay in transferring properties to buyers, the Real Estate Appellate Tribunal has the power to intervene and levy fines on developers within 60 days. The maximum jail term for a developer who violates the order of the appellate tribunal is around three years, with or without a fine.

Real estate agents will have to pay a fine of Rs 10,000 for violating any provisions of the Act, for each day the violation continues or face imprisonment of up to one year

No changing of building plans in the middle of development

The Act prohibits a developer from changing the plan in a project unless two-thirds of the allottees have agreed to such a change.

^^ Didn't KA notify the act? I read an article in TNIE a few days ago where the RE developers were pressurising the buyers to take possession of unfinished flats before the act comes into force, so they can avoid paying the penalty. Why would they do that if the act wasn't taking effect?

All the state gobermints have tried to favor the builders. Its a big mistake to keep the Regulatory power in State's hands. Central government has taken cognizance of the dilution done by many states including those of BJP. Even if Central government enforces strong rules on states, finally the regulatory authorizes will be kept toothless. Central government should have gone for a pan-India Reg body like RBI or SEBI.

But even after doing all this, the decisions/fines by such regulatory bodies are taken to the courts and are kept on stay indefinitely. I read so many times how NGT or CCI or some other body fined huge amounts big builders. But I never heard anyone actually paying a penny. Having laws and all is fine but if there is not gonna be any enforcement then its being back to the square one.

JayS wrote:All the state gobermints have tried to favor the builders. Its a big mistake to keep the Regulatory power in State's hands. Central government has taken cognizance of the dilution done by many states including those of BJP. Even if Central government enforces strong rules on states, finally the regulatory authorizes will be kept toothless. Central government should have gone for a pan-India Reg body like RBI or SEBI.

But even after doing all this, the decisions/fines by such regulatory bodies are taken to the courts and are kept on stay indefinitely. I read so many times how NGT or CCI or some other body fined huge amounts big builders. But I never heard anyone actually paying a penny. Having laws and all is fine but if there is not gonna be any enforcement then its being back to the square one.

especially the BJP states have made modifications to the act, exempting many many projects on very flimsy grounds.

Also I hear that flats will be now be sold like FMCG products and prices will be jacked up for every "amenity" like clubhouse extra, maintenance management extra, swimming pool extra (what effing swimming pool?? It doesn't contain enough water to even wet your oysters!!) meaning that anything except the roof over your head will be extra and will put the flat in the "premium" category giving a huge chance for the builder to jack up his prices.

My cousin in Mumbai had bought an apartment a mid-high rise (~20 floors) which was under construction. It got a stay order and construction has been halted. It's been close to 8 years and builder keeps promising that it will be done next year. Will this bill help such people in restrospect?

shravanp wrote:My cousin in Mumbai had bought an apartment a mid-high rise (~20 floors) which was under construction. It got a stay order and construction has been halted. It's been close to 8 years and builder keeps promising that it will be done next year. Will this bill help such people in restrospect?

In principle, the bill is suppose to cover such cases as well. But MH govt tried to dilute the rules. They have now agreed to make it more like it supposed to be. But I have not checked MH specific rules. But given there are legal issues here (stay from Court), I am not sure how the builder will be even able to get his project registered under RERA.

JayS wrote:All the state gobermints have tried to favor the builders. Its a big mistake to keep the Regulatory power in State's hands. Central government has taken cognizance of the dilution done by many states including those of BJP. Even if Central government enforces strong rules on states, finally the regulatory authorizes will be kept toothless. Central government should have gone for a pan-India Reg body like RBI or SEBI.

But even after doing all this, the decisions/fines by such regulatory bodies are taken to the courts and are kept on stay indefinitely. I read so many times how NGT or CCI or some other body fined huge amounts big builders. But I never heard anyone actually paying a penny. Having laws and all is fine but if there is not gonna be any enforcement then its being back to the square one.

especially the BJP states have made modifications to the act, exempting many many projects on very flimsy grounds.

Also I hear that flats will be now be sold like FMCG products and prices will be jacked up for every "amenity" like clubhouse extra, maintenance management extra, swimming pool extra (what effing swimming pool?? It doesn't contain enough water to even wet your oysters!!) meaning that anything except the roof over your head will be extra and will put the flat in the "premium" category giving a huge chance for the builder to jack up his prices.

To their credit, they have atleast notified the RERA rules within deadline. Only some 13 states and UT had notified the rules last time I check. Other states didn't do anything. I am yet to see anything on KA's proposal. They were going to do it on 30April. KA govt was trying hard to exclude all projects started before 1st May. Anyways nothing better was expected from any state government. They are the reason for the mess in RE in first place. When I first saw a couple of years ago that Centre will only be issuing guidelines and its the states who will enforce RERA, I lost all hopes then and there.

Well, aren't flats charged premium for facilities already..?? If you buy apartment in BLR, you have to pay *premium* for things like club house, swimming pool etc. Other than direct charges like Club how membership fees, maintenance charges builders increase loading on the super builtup area to increase premium. You would easily be paying 30-40% premium for same carpet area apartment in same area for an apartment with lot of amenities compared to the no-frills apartments. Good thing with RERA will be that builder will have to mention all the component separately, which will reduce the hidden charges and would be easier for buyer to compared various properties.

Finally, the prices depend on demand. There are ample number of people who are ready to throw a lot of money to buy flats. And there are even more number of "investors" who are adding to the inflation of RE rates. These people help maintain high values and others have no option but to work hard to match those values if they want to buy a house at all.

In a country where slums sit cheek-by-jowl next to palatial luxury -- including what’s been reported as the world’s most expensive private home -- India’s unhoused may soon become a more potent economic growth driver.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s drive to bring homes to the country’s 1.3 billion people, rising incomes and the best affordability in two decades will unleash a $1.3 trillion wave of investment in housing over the next seven years, according to CLSA India Pvt.

The firm expects 60 million new homes to be built between 2018 and 2024, creating about 2 million jobs annually and giving a tailwind of as much as 75 basis points to India’s gross domestic product. The volume of social and affordable housing will rise almost 70 percent to 10.5 million annually by 2024, exceeding the 33 percent increase in the premium market.

“The housing sector is at a tipping point and will be the economy’s next big growth driver,” Mumbai-based analyst Mahesh Nandurkar and his colleagues wrote in a note last week. “The catalyst is the government’s big push for an ambitious housing program.”

Sachin wrote:Was just scanning through the real estate advertisements (usually comes by truck loads on Sundays). In Bengaluru, the new trend seems to be not reducing the price, but offering "freebies" like Kitchen wood work, LCD TVs etc. etc. Is this an indication of the prices coming down?

Sachin wrote:Was just scanning through the real estate advertisements (usually comes by truck loads on Sundays). In Bengaluru, the new trend seems to be not reducing the price, but offering "freebies" like Kitchen wood work, LCD TVs etc. etc. Is this an indication of the prices coming down?

Seen such schemes previously as well in other cities, if not in BLR. But definitely this is to maintain per sqft rate high. The builders would rather give discounts in other ways than directly reducing the per sqft rate. I have seen some builders giving credit note for discount while keeping psqft rate same.

IMO this does not indicate any shift in prices overall. BLR RE market has more or less remained stagnant for few years now, leaving apart few pockets which have seen some appreciation. Also in my observation, there is only a small effect of demonetization seen on the apartment prices. Can't say anything on land prices though. Anyway the black money component for apartment was almost nil in BLR. But even resale prices are not seen to be going down much. In fact I expect the BLR RE to bounce back in next couple of years as the economy improves. But if IT goes down then it could have its own negative compensatory effect as well. But the sentiments I see in people around me are - "This is good time to invest in RE in BLR".

JayS wrote:Seen such schemes previously as well in other cities, if not in BLR. But definitely this is to maintain per sqft rate high. The builders would rather give discounts in other ways than directly reducing the per sqft rate. I have seen some builders giving credit note for discount while keeping psqft rate same.

IMO this does not indicate any shift in prices overall.

So can we assume that the sq.ft prices quoted earlier was really high (i.e profits were more), but today due to the circumstances the realtors have started giving the freebies? They could have done such things earlier too, but did not bother as there were gullible buyers who would buy and then spend another few lakhs decorating the house/flat?

And I do agree, at least in my part of the woods have seen apartment buildings just remain like skeletons for a long period of time. But these are small time builders (perhaps who just entered the scene too late).

JayS wrote:Seen such schemes previously as well in other cities, if not in BLR. But definitely this is to maintain per sqft rate high. The builders would rather give discounts in other ways than directly reducing the per sqft rate. I have seen some builders giving credit note for discount while keeping psqft rate same.

IMO this does not indicate any shift in prices overall.

So can we assume that the sq.ft prices quoted earlier was really high (i.e profits were more), but today due to the circumstances the realtors have started giving the freebies? They could have done such things earlier too, but did not bother as there were gullible buyers who would buy and then spend another few lakhs decorating the house/flat?

And I do agree, at least in my part of the woods have seen apartment buildings just remain like skeletons for a long period of time. But these are small time builders (perhaps who just entered the scene too late).

Such freebies are only 1-2% of the sticker price. My experience is one can get 2-3% discounts without much bargain easily. But if you have decent understanding of real value of property in certain area and can bargain hard, without falling for tricks of the developers, then you should be able to get up to 8-10% discount on sticker price. Giving some freebies is not a big deal for them. For them the cost of same thing is less than what an purchaser would pay since they get bulk deal rates. E.g. Modular kitchen which might cost an owner 1.5lakh, a developer can get it done in half the price if he gives contract for say min 20 of kitchens at a time. There profit margins are very high and this small dent in it if they get instant money is always welcome. Since having capital in hand NOW is most important thing for them. They get capital at much higher rate so 1-2% discount is nothing for them, if they can get money now instead of one month later.

It can be said some developers are taking some hits on their margins, but its not significant or as much as was expected, particularly after demonetization. But on the other hand there are some other developers like Prestige, Shobha which still very adamantly ask for higher and higher prices. And there are a lot of greedy investors who fuel them by giving them funds in pre-launch and launch phases as zero interest capital or some even take home loan where developer offer to pay interest until possession. Effectively big developers find ways to get cheap capital and thus can sustain longer even while maintaining large unsold inventory. They sooner or later find someone or other (end user) who think prices are going up and this is good deal at this rate.

I notice big builders and CREDAI is trying to create an atmosphere of confusion and fear regarding RERA saying that low-mid level developers will be wiped out completely and it will increase rate significantly due to cost to developers and shortage of supply. Blah blah blah. All fake. I always say, RE is biggest Ponzi scheme being run in India.

Majority of price hike is perceived. Big projects which are typically used as indicators start really low in pre-launch and keep increasing prices steadily until possession creating a illusion that prices are increasing always. This works well for developers-investors who make all the money, but results in higher prices for end-users. There is a system of developers, investors and brokers who maintain high perceived demand and fuel this frenzy.

JayS wrote: There is a system of developers, investors and brokers who maintain high perceived demand and fuel this frenzy.

A friend also had this to say; he bought a high rise in a Tier II city and was thinking of selling it. Till he decided to sell it, every one was talking about the 30%-40% margins he can expect to sell it. Chap also reworked his liabilities accordingly. But when it comes to the actual selling part, the expected rates came no where close. Every agent, prospective buyer had n number of reasons to happily slash down the price. Finally he got a margin of around 10%-15%. Then know a case of a chap who got a flat in a small town (Tier-III city, if it can be called that way). Got it for around 12 lakh, sold it of for 15 lakh.

so what happened to the Land acquisition bill. Not much in the news these days. Is it still 6x of market value?

From what I see the margins are fat for highly rated developers. For the rest the competition is cut throat, lot of shoddy materials and product being installed in 6-12-20 story buildings. Too often the location is worth more than the building, which needs to change.

Theo_Fidel wrote:so what happened to the Land acquisition bill. Not much in the news these days.

Each state is passing a version of the "dropped" central bill. The central law passed in UPA stays however assent is given to the state bill by a friendly center allowing the state provisions to override the central bill, where in conflict. Compensation levels by most states not being touched and in line with the current central law.

JayS wrote: There is a system of developers, investors and brokers who maintain high perceived demand and fuel this frenzy.

A friend also had this to say; he bought a high rise in a Tier II city and was thinking of selling it. Till he decided to sell it, every one was talking about the 30%-40% margins he can expect to sell it. Chap also reworked his liabilities accordingly. But when it comes to the actual selling part, the expected rates came no where close. Every agent, prospective buyer had n number of reasons to happily slash down the price. Finally he got a margin of around 10%-15%. Then know a case of a chap who got a flat in a small town (Tier-III city, if it can be called that way). Got it for around 12 lakh, sold it of for 15 lakh.

Hi-rise projects are overhyped and a big component (~30-40%) of the price is based on perception. Its difficult to make money in short to medium term if you buy apartment in such project, unless you have invested very early in pre-launch or launch phase, which is again a risky investment. In fact MFs have given far far better return in 5yrs post 2012, than buying an apartment in a mature market like BLR. As an example, while the appreciation in cost of apartment in big projects is an upcoming are like Kanakapura road in South BLR, has gone up by mere 50% in last 5-6yrs, that too if you had booked early in launch phase. But if you compare completed apartments there is only 20-30% appreciation. In small-medium projects with not many amenities the appreciation is again in the ballpark of 20-30% as far as my observation has been. While if you had invested the same money in Share market you would have gotten 20% CAGR from any half decent equity fund. Of coarse share markets are more unpredictable. But even some of the bond funds have given >10-12% CAGR consistently.

I bought Appt in pre-Launch phase and now that the whole complex is complete and families moved in, The jump in price is hardly 25%. If you add my Registration charges and charges to get the interiors done, I would not make more that 10% at current rate.